


The Daring Game

by Bearfootscar



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Ficlet, Survivor Guilt, Virmire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-28
Updated: 2013-09-28
Packaged: 2017-12-27 20:48:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/983436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bearfootscar/pseuds/Bearfootscar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaidan Alenko and Ashley Williams have a long standing game of Dare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Daring Game

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this post on Tumblr http://bearfootscar.tumblr.com/post/62502326461/colonists-and-thats-how-it-happened
> 
> Leave it to me to turn a silly joke into an angsty fic.

"C’mon, LT, just one lick," Ash says as she dangles some greenish slime in front of Kaidan's nose.

Kaidan raises an eyebrow, "You're kidding."

Ash shakes her head and waggles the slime so it oozes down her hand. "Not a chance," she says, "I knew you'd chicken out."

Kaidan’s eyes go wide before he sets his jaw and plucks the slime from her hand. He holds it up to examine it in the lights of the shuttle bay, and it is wet to the touch and smells like a putrid swamp.

"Where did you even find this?" he asks.

Ash crosses her arms and tosses her head towards the lockers. "Bottom of Wrex's boots."

His nose wrinkles as he extends his tongue towards the oozing slime.

"I'm gonna make you pay for this one."

***

"Aw, that's not even fair!" Ash says, waving him away and turning back to her beer.

"What? It's totally fair!" Kaidan replies as she glances over her shoulder at the lonely recruit standing by the bar. He knows full well that glance means she's still in the game, and he grins when she finishes her beer and motions for him to pay the bartender. He buys two bottles of Canadian lager, and she smirks at him and plucks them off the bar before sauntering over to the barely-of-age recruit.

Kaidan watches from the bar as she introduces herself and sits down. The kid looks shocked, but accepts the bottle with a forced smile. She says something he can't hear over the din of bass and shouted conversations, and the recruit chuckles. She always attracts a group and soon she is able to slip away from the kid as he is telling some boisterous tale while other recruits clap him on the back and laugh.

"See, not so bad, eh?" Kaidan says as she rejoins him, shouting over the loud music.

She clinks her bottle against his and smirks.

"Oh, you'll get yours, LT."

****

"I dare you to dance with Shepard," Ash says.

Kaidan’s cheeks immediately flush at the mention of their new Commander.

"Huh? Well, I uh-- you see--" he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I heard she's got great moves," Ash says, fighting back a grin. She has seen the way his eyes light up when Shepard is around. Hell, someone would have to be blinder than a Quarian in a fogged up suit not to.

"But, there are regs, you know, and it would be awkward. And did I mention there are regs--"

"I said ‘dance’ not ‘push her against a wall and have your way with her’!" she says.

His face drops and she knows she has hit a nerve, so she lets him linger on that image for a few moments before she turns away in mock frustration.

"Ha, looks like I win, then?"

"No! No, I didn't, uh, say that," he replies, and when he gets up from the table and paces to his work station and back, she knows she has him.

"Well?" she asks.

"Okay, but not tonight. After the mission. It's not a big one, just a hunch from the Salarians."

"Deal." They shake hands and she can feel him trembling. "This will be my best dare yet."

***

It takes three years for him to make good on that dare--the last one Ash ever gave him--and on the anniversary of her death, he shows up at Anderson's abandoned apartment with a bottle of whiskey and tells Shepard the whole story.

"I always knew you two were up to shenanigans," she says with a laugh before her eyes fall on her empty shot glass. He fills it, and they drink.

"I'd still like to win, though," he says, eying her over his folded hands, and she looks up.

"Yeah," she says, "Okay."

He gets up from the couch and ceremoniously holds his hand out to her. She smiles and places her hand in his, and he pulls her to her feet. She stumbles, falling into him, and looks up into his eyes. Déjà vu.

Without more words, without music, they dance in front of the fireplace until both of their tears are extinguished.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the brilliant NovaMarie for her beta magic.


End file.
